Booker Tops Final 101 List

TheInsiders.com

01/26/2002

SEATTLE - Defenses may have had a hard time keeping a grip on him, but fans at TheInsiders.com have known all year where to find Lorenzo Booker - at the top of the network's top 101 list of college-football prospects. The running back out of St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif., completed a beginning-to-end run at the No. 1 position.

With the Feb. 6 National Signing Day looming, Booker still looms as the top uncommitted prize among high school seniors. It looks like a race between Washington, USC, Notre Dame and Florida State that will go right down to the wire.

While Booker was a fixture at the top, the rest of TheInsiders.com Top 101 list saw plenty of movement. Among those on the move was Vincent Young, the StudentSports.com Player of the Year, who catapulted Ben Olson and Trent Edwards to become the network's No. 1 rated quarterback. He carried Madison (Houston) High School to a 14-1 record via some astonishing numbers: 2,432 yards and 31 touchdowns through the air and 1,735 yards and 22 more scores on the ground.

"No player's stock skyrocketed more during the regular season and playoffs," said Brentt Eads, TheInsiders.com's national recruiting editor.

The list also appears at CNNSI.com, for whom TheInsiders.com is the official recruiting content provider.

Young wasn't alone among the high risers. Aaron Harris of North Mesquite (Tex.) High School leaped from No. 91 all the way to No. 14 in the Top 101 list. Nicknamed the "Human Tackling Machine," Harris logged 132 tackles in spite of playing just nine games because of an ankle injury. He spurned offers from Florida State, Florida, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Colorado, LSU and UCLA, and, according to Eads, is "a major reason why the University of Texas recruiting class will undoubtedly finish No. 1 this year."

Right behind Young at No. 15 is defensive back Darnell Bing, who was ranked No. 55 in the previous Top 101 list. Hailing from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly, Bing "hits like a truck" and "is the most physically gifted player on the West Coast," according to Greg Biggins of PacWestFootball.com.

Though he may not have come from as far down the list, Derrick Landri of top-rated De LaSalle (Concord, Calif.) made an impressive move to No. 5. Biggins calls the 6-foot-3, 290-pound Landri "probably the best lineman to come out of California since Don Mosebar player over 20 years ago. Landri was the top defensive tackle as well as the top offensive lineman on the entire West Coast and could play on either side of the ball in college."

Rounding out TheInsiders.com's top five were No. 2 Haloti Ngata, a defensive lineman out of Highland (Salt Lake City), and No. 3 Devin Hester, an athlete out of Suncoast (Riviera Beach, Fla.).